The clean, uncluttered lines of Hartley Botanics’ new Horizon glasshouse – unveiled on stand MA13 at the 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show (May 22-26) – reflect a new age of modernism in the domestic landscape, giving garden owners the option to project contemporary house styles and increasingly popular rectilinear garden designs into their outdoor structures.
Benefiting from Hartley’s concealed engineering technology, the seamless form of the Horizon has no visible fixings to distract the eye. The projecting pent roof and uninterrupted full-height glazing panels on all sides supported in a frame of smooth, coated aluminium seem more redolent of Hof Haus than greenhouse. But notwithstanding its minimalist form, this is a very practical and spacious plant house to satisfy the most green-fingered of modern gardeners as well as those simply looking for an elegant outdoor retreat.
Affording plenty of uncluttered space for benches, prize specimens and garden furniture, the Horizon is 4.15m wide, 2.09m deep and 2.6m high at the front, declining to 1.94m high at the back*, from where run-off rainwater can be collected.
Glazed to the floor on all sides, the Horizon is a virtually transparent, light-filled structure which affords plant growing and storage space down to ground level while keeping open the vistas behind. With the front and rear elevations each comprising four huge panes of 4mm toughened safety glass, two further full-height panes making each side wall and four more large panes forming the sloping roof, the Horizon benefits from the largest uninterrupted glazing spans of any Hartley domestic glasshouse.
The generous 870mm wide fully glazed swing entrance door is also fashioned from a single pane of toughened glass enclosed within a strong aluminium frame, complete with modern lock and furniture. With four high transom opening vents running the full length of the structure’s front elevation and two more at the back, the climate control options are flexible and quickly adjusted.
The large glass panes are easy to keep clean with a squeegee, in a fraction of the time it takes to clean a conventional multi-pane greenhouse, and the continuous surface also makes it easier to apply and remove insulating wrap or shading paint if required.
Each pane of toughened BS6206 4mm single safety glass is uniquely enclosed in its own individual frame, so as to dispense with overlaps, and cushioned in thermoplastic rubber, bonded on all four sides to eliminate any glass-toglass or glass-to-metal contact. It is permanently edge-sealed to withstand severe storms and to give decades of virtually maintenance-free service.
The Horizon structure comes in a choice of nine natural powder coated colour finishes including olive, forest green, stone, light ivory and white.
For the Chelsea Flower Show period only, Hartley are offering the new Horizon for £9,950
inclusive of VAT, 10-year warranty, UK mainland delivery and erection onto a pre-prepared base – representing a substantial saving on the normal list price of £14,000.
For further information, call Hartley Botanic on 01457 821952.